So my training came to a sudden and very unexpected break last week when my coughing took a turn for the worst. Wednesday night/Thursday morning I almost went to the ER due to not being able to breath. I was coughing, wheezing, crying and could not take a deep breath. It was actually terrifying. I ended up at the doctor’s office for the 4th time in a month and was told to take it easy because my lungs are so irritated by whatever sickness I have going on. I missed almost two days of work too. The doctor told me that I had “Reactive Airways Disease” which is basically another term for asthma, which I wasn’t thrilled about.

I was frustrated, but knew that I had to make the responsible decision for my health. As of today (Monday) I have not trained since Wednesday morning last week!! I am losing my mind, but I have felt some improvement in my lung function, which is a huge relief. I am also on the world’s most expensive inhaler. (OK it might not be – but even with my insurance it was still enough for me to question it in line at the pharmacy…yes I was THAT person.) SO…I am on more medicine and have “taken it easy” for a few days. I am supposed to keep my doctor updated on my status so we’ll see what happens this week!

Anyways…my whole three days of training last week went well, even during my swim. (My mom questioned how I could even swim when I was coughing on dry land every two seconds, let alone holding my breath under water.) I survived though and spent my hour in the pool focusing on form drills. I am really trying to focus on the base of my stroke rather than distance right now.

Here’s the break down of my week before I was forced to quarantine myself:

Total Time Training: Three hours, six minutes
Total Mileage: 16 miles

Tonight I plan on doing a slow and stead 16 miles on the spin bike. I am going to take it easy and go for mileage and not pace. I think this is a good step “back” into training and I can test my lung function after a few days rest.

Here’s to not coughing up a lung tonight a the gym and hopefully getting in a decent 6 days of training this week!

Here’s to also not losing my mind over a few lost days of training. Real athletes learn to adapt and jump back into training as soon as and as best as they can. Happy second day of Spring too!